Virtual signs for improving information communicated to the automotive driver

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing information to an individual using an electronic sign in which the sign displays information in response to the identity of the tag or an account associated with the tag. The information is displayed when the tag, which may be carried by the individual or in a vehicle, approaches the sign. A user can preselect from among various information types he wishes to receive, such as news, weather, sports and personal messages. The user can also select a priority for each information type.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to providing visual information to personswho are mobile, such as vehicle drivers and pedestrians.

2. Description of the Related Art

Drivers of automobiles and other road vehicles receive information froma number of sources, both internal and external to the vehicle. Internalsources include not only the vehicle's instrumentation but also thevehicle's radio and similar devices. Radio broadcasts can provide news,weather, road conditions, and similar information of use to the driver.Drivers can even receive information from the Internet using a suitablyequipped device. External sources include road signs. Drivers arecontinually bombarded with information from road signs. Some road signs,such as signs informing the driver of the speed limit and hazards, areof critical importance to the driver. Others, such as signs informingthe driver of distances to various points and signs informing the driverof rest stops and points of interest may be of lesser importance. Stillothers, such as advertising billboards and the like, may be of little orno interest to a particular driver.

It would be desirable to provide information to drivers by means of roadsigns that is consistent with an individual driver's interest in or needfor that type of information. The present invention addresses theseproblems and deficiencies and others in the manner described below.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

From one perspective, the present invention relates to a method andsystem for providing dynamically selected information to one or morepersons using an electronic sign, in which the sign displays informationin response to one or more electronic tags carried by or otherwiseassociated with the person or persons. The information is displayedresponsive to the tag or tags being brought into proximity with thesign.

In an illustrative embodiment of the invention, the person is a driverof an automobile or other road vehicle, and the sign is located along aroad. Nevertheless, in other embodiments, the person can be walking orperforming any other activity that brings him and his tag into proximitywith the sign. The sign can be located anywhere, including on or near aroad, a bicycle path, a city street, a sidewalk, in a store window, orany other suitable location. From another perspective, the presentinvention relates to a method and system for providing dynamicallyselected information to one or more drivers of road vehicles using anelectronic road sign, in which the road sign displays information inresponse to the identity of one or more vehicles. The identity of avehicle may be determined not only by electronically receivinginformation from a tag but also by, for example, optically identifyingthe vehicle, optically reading indicia on the vehicle, or by any othersuitable means.

The term “dynamically” refers to the feature of the invention that theselection occurs in accordance with predetermined criteria that maycause certain information to be selected under certain circumstances andother information to be selected under other circumstances. The selectedinformation may change while the vehicle is on the road. In accordancewith an illustrative embodiment of the invention, an individual vehicleor an individual driver or other occupant of a vehicle can have a tag orsimilar device. The tag can be electronic (either active or passive) orcan be optical or of other suitable nature that allows electroniccommunication of information between it and another device. Many suchtags can be distributed among the many vehicles or drivers on the roads.Each tag includes an identifier, such as a number, that is unique tothat vehicle or individual and different from the identifiers associatedwith the tags of all other such vehicles or individuals The identifieris associated with an account that has been set up for that individualor vehicle. The information is selected in response to the uniqueidentity defined or established by the tag or the account, or theinformation may be selected in response to a collection of tags fromdifferent vehicles by averaging characteristics associated with thetags. Information is “selected” in the sense that information of a broadrange of types is available, though all types are not necessarilyavailable in response to all identifiers at all times. For example, atany given time information describing the current weather conditions maybe selected in response to one identifier, but information describingthe results of sports events may be selected in response to a differentidentifier. The selected information is displayed on the sign as thevehicle or vehicles pass it.

It should be understood that the term “tag” is used solely for purposesof convenience in this patent specification and is not intended toconvey any specific shape, package or commercially available type ofelectronic device. Some commercially available devices suitable for useas a tag indeed have a card-like or tag-like shape. Nevertheless, thedevice can have any suitable shape or size and can be co-packaged orotherwise combined with other electronic devices or with non-electronicitems. For example, a conventional pager, cellular telephone, personaldigital assistant (PDA), computer, wristwatch, or other electronicdevice or non-electronic item commonly carried on a person can be madeto include a “tag” of the present invention.

In some embodiments of the invention, an individual such as the drivercan preselect from among various information types. Then, information ofonly those types and not others will be selected and displayed when thedriver passes the sign. For example, the driver can choose to view onlyinformation describing the current traffic and road conditions and canselect not to view sports and weather information or other types ofinformation. In such embodiments, a further feature of the invention canbe included that allows one to select a priority for each informationtype. If information of two or more different priorities is available atthe time the information selection is made, i.e., as the vehicleapproaches the sign, information of highest priority can be selected anddisplayed before information of lower priority. Other criteria can beused to select from among information types in such embodiments. Forexample, information of a type that has not been previously selected anddisplayed within a predetermined amount of time can be selected anddisplayed before information of a type that has been more recentlydisplayed. For example, if a driver wishes to receive sports and weatherinformation, sports information can be selected if weather informationhas previously been displayed more recently than sports information.

In some embodiments of the invention, advertising or other informationof general interest to more than one driver may be selected bycollecting tag information from multiple persons or vehicles anddynamically selecting a message which appropriate for the collection ofpersons with whom the tags are associated, e.g., by selecting a messageaccording to any of various averaging techniques for personalcharacteristics. Furthermore, in some embodiments, some of theinformation displayed is selected in response to tags, while otherinformation is not responsive to tags.

In some embodiments of the invention, textual messages can be enteredremotely and displayed on the sign. For example, a member of thedriver's family can enter a message on a home computer that is connectedvia a wide-area network such as the global super-network presently knownas the Internet. When the driver's vehicle approaches the sign, thefamily member's message is displayed for the driver to view.

The features described above can be included individually or combined inany suitable way in various embodiments of the invention. For example, adriver can prioritize information types so that messages from familymembers are given a higher priority than weather and sports information.

The foregoing, together with other features and advantages of thepresent invention, will become more apparent when referring to thefollowing specification, claims, and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference isnow made to the following detailed description of the embodimentsillustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system in which an electronic road sign providesselected information to an individual driver in response to detection ofthe driver's approaching vehicle;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the system; and

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the steps of the method forproviding selected information to an individual driver by means of anelectronic road sign.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As illustrated in FIG. 1, an automobile 10 is driving along a road 12near a system that includes an electronic sign 14, a first radiofrequency identification (RFID) tag station 18, and a second RFID tagstation 16. Stations 16 and 18 are preferably buried beneath the roadsurface to protect them from weather, vandalism and other sources ofdamage, but alternatively they may be located by the side of the road,suspended over the road, or in any other suitable location. The systemalso includes a RFID tag 20 that is preferably mounted in a convenientlocation inside automobile 10. Nevertheless, tag 20 may be carried on orin automobile 10 or carried by an occupant of automobile 12 in any othersuitable manner. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, tag 20 iscoupled to an indicator lamp 21 mounted in a location in the passengercompartment of vehicle 10 visible to the driver, such as on thedashboard or roof. RFID tag 20 is a type of device well-known in the artto which the present invention relates. Such devices communicate digitalinformation with their associated tag stations using radio frequency(RF) electromagnetic signals when the tag is brought into closeproximity with the station. (The communication range in such a system istypically no greater than a few meters, which is sufficient for purposesof the present invention.) The tag typically includes a microprocessoror similar controller, some memory, and an antenna, housed in a smallcard-like or tag-like enclosure. Both active and passive systems arewell-known. In a typical active system, the tag and base station eachtransmits radio signals bidirectionally to the other, which receives anddecodes them in the manner of a digital radio. In a typical passivesystem, the tag modulates its inductance, which is detectable when thecard is in the magnetic field emanating from the base station. Suchsystems have been conventionally used, for example, to identifyautomobiles on toll roads and effect a toll payment transaction. Becausetag 20 and stations 16 and 18 are well-known devices, they are notdescribed in further detail herein.

Although RFID devices are included in this exemplary embodiment of theinvention, in other embodiments the devices can be optical in nature orof any other suitable technology known in the art, such as devices thatread license plates or reflectors mounted on the vehicle.

The method that is performed in the above-described system is describedwith further reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. At step 22, a user sets up anaccount. The user may be, for example, the individual who normallydrives automobile 10. The user can set up an account remotely from theremainder of the system using a personal computer 24 (FIG. 2) in theuser's residence or workplace that is capable of communicating with asign control server (computer) 26 via a wide-area computer network suchas the global super-network commonly known as the Internet. As personsof skill in the art will recognize, FIG. 2 is simplified for purposes ofillustration to omit details of the Internet interconnections andswitching hardware. Note, for example, that personal computer 24 wouldtypically be connected to the Internet via a telephone line (publicswitched telephone network or “PSTN”) link to a service providercomputer that is, in turn, connected more directly to the Internet orone of its branches. Similarly, a content server (computer) 28 isconnected to the Internet for purposes described below.

Although the Internet is used to set up an account, enter messages, andso forth in this exemplary embodiment of the invention, in otherembodiments a voice-response telephone system or other suitable meanscan be used. Such systems, in which a person enters information using atelephone keypad in response to voice prompts, are well-understood inthe art to which the invention relates. The voice-response system wouldautomatically enter the user's information into a computer such asserver 26. A telephone can also be used without an automatedvoice-response system by having the user speak with a human operator,who manually enters the user's information into the computer.

To set up an account, the user interacts remotely with sign controlserver 26. Server 26 causes suitable forms (not shown) to be displayedon personal computer 24. The user enters information into these forms,identifying himself by name and providing other information typicallyrequested by providers of Internet services, such as credit card paymentinformation. The forms and the user's interaction with them and server26 can conform to the standards conventionally used in that portion ofthe Internet known as the World Wide Web, such as the hypertext markuplanguage (HTML) and the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). In additionto such typical information, the user selects types of information inwhich he is interested. For example, a user may be interested inreceiving news information, financial information such as stock prices,weather information, sports information and traffic information. Theuser can rank or prioritize such information types in order ofpreference or importance to him. For example, he can select a higherpriority for traffic information than sports information to, as furtherdescribed below by way of an example, receive any relevant trafficinformation that he has not yet received before he receives any furthersports information. Another information type that a user can select toreceive is personal messages. The receipt of personal messages is alsodescribed below by way of an example.

When the user has identified himself, selected and prioritizedinformation types, and provided other relevant information that is setforth as a request in the form presented to him, an account isestablished. The account preferably resides on server 26 in the form ofentries in a suitable database (not shown) that reflect the informationprovided by the user (who is the account holder). Setting up accounts bymeans of hypertext forms on the World Wide Web and recording suchinformation in a database for use by a service provider is well-known inthe art and therefore not described herein in further detail.Nevertheless, it should be noted that server 26 affords the account asuitable identification number that is different from the numberafforded to all other such users of the system. Any suitable number ofsuch accounts may be set up in this manner by other individuals and eachis afforded a unique identification number. Payment for the servicedescribed herein can be effected in any suitable manner known in the artfor payment of Internet-based services or services ordered via theInternet. For example, the user may pay a monthly fee by means of acredit card. When the user has set up an account, the user receives tag20. The provider of the services, who may be the operator of server 26or have a business association with the operator of server 26, can mailtag 20 to the user or provide it in any other suitable manner, such asrequiring the user to drive automobile 10 to a certain place of businessso that the provider can install tag 20 in automobile 10. Tag 20 ispreferably pre-programmed with information relating to the user'saccount. For example, the unique identification number is preferablystored in the memory of tag 20.

Sign control server 26 is preferably remotely located from the remainderof the system at a location where a high-speed Internet connection isreadily available. Server 26 is connected to second RFID tag station 16via a suitable telephone connection, such as a hard-wired connection tothe PSTN or a cellular telephone link to the PSTN. The antenna 30 forsuch a cellular telephone link is shown in FIG. 1.

With reference again to FIG. 3, at step 32 another individual can usepersonal computer 24 or a computer similarly connected to the Internetto communicate a text message to sign control server 26. Step 32 isoptional in the sense that it can occur only if at the time set up hisaccount the user selected personal messages as an information type toreceive. If the user did not select personal messages as an informationtype, step 33 is the next step of the method.

At step 33 information is selected for the one or more users of thesystem and downloaded into the computers of the one or more second RFIDtag stations 16 associated with the one or more electronic signs 14 ofthe system. Selection is performed by sign control server 26 inaccordance with a suitable algorithm. Depending upon whether theembodiment of the invention allows the user to select from among morethan one information type and whether it allows the user to prioritizethem, the algorithm can be as straightforward as retrieving (i.e.,downloading) information stored on remote content server 28. Forexample, in some embodiments of the invention, news information may bestored on content server 28. Sign control server 26 thus retrieves thenews information from server 28. The types of information stored onInternet servers and remotely retrievable by other (client) computersconnected to the Internet is broadly referred to in the art as“content.” An enormous variety of content servers and methods forcreating, selecting and delivering such information (content) to clientcomputers are well-known in the art and therefore not described indetail herein. The content delivered to server 26 may be any suitablecontent that is known in the art to be deliverable via the Internet,including news information, financial information, weather information,sports information, traffic information and e-mail-like personal textmessages.

Sign control server 26 performs this algorithm for each user of thesystem, i.e., for each account. Sign control server 26 downloads theretrieved information for each user into the computer of each secondRFID tag station 16 of the system (or at least into the computer of eachstation 16 in the geographic region where that user is expected to be).The information is thus ready for immediate retrieval and display whenthe user approaches sign 14. Although some or all of the information tobe displayed is preferably pre-stored in this manner, in otherembodiments of the invention the information can be downloaded at thetime the user approaches sign 14.

Operation of the system begins at step 34 when automobile 10 drives downroad 12 into sufficient proximity with first RFID tag station 18 forcommunication with RFID tag 20 to occur. At that time, RFID tag 20automatically identifies itself to first RFID tag station 18 bycommunicating the identification number stored in it to first RFID tagstation 18. First RFID tag station 18 in turn communicates theidentification number to second RFID tag station 16. Second RFID tagstation 16 is preferably located a short distance (e.g., 100 meters)down road 12 from first RFID tag station 18. A computer in second RFIDtag station 16 compares the received identification number with thenumbers it stores internally that uniquely identify the accounts. If thereceived identification number matches one associated with one of theaccounts, at step 36 second RFID tag station 16 retrieves theinformation that has been pre-stored in its computer for the driver orother occupant of automobile 10. When automobile 10 comes intosufficiently close proximity with tag station 16, tag station 16 detectsand causes tag 20 to be identified in the same manner described above.When tag station 16 detects and identifies tag 20, it causes electronicsign 14 to display the retrieved information for that user at step 38.

In the illustrated example, the information or content to be displayedfor the user is the personal message entered into personal computer 24at step 32. For example, the spouse of the driver of automobile 10 maywish to communicate a message asking the driver to buy some milk on hisway home from work. For example, the message can be: “Jack, please getmilk.” Examples of other information or content include pictures,diagrams and the like. For example, Jack's brother could send Jack, whomay be stuck in traffic, a picture of his newborn child.

When tag 20 is detected and identified, first tag station 18causes-indicator lamp 21 inside automobile 10 to be activated. Indicatorlamp 21 alerts the driver to divert some of his attention to sign 14.Alternatively to indicator lamp 21, the indicator device can be anaudible buzzer or any other suitable device. Preferably, indicator lamp21 or such other device is activated even if sign 14 is unable todisplay the information, so that the driver knows there is informationintended for him. Sign 14 may be unable to display information if, forexample, it or its network connections malfunctions.

Electronic sign 14 is preferably similar in size and shape to other roadsigns and has a suitable electronic display, such as a rectangular arrayof lamps, that can display text and graphics, including pictures. Sign14 then displays the received content. As illustrated in FIG. 1, sign 14displays the message “Jack, please get milk.” The driver of automobile10 can read this message as he drives by. A few seconds after automobile10 has passed, i.e., after tag station 16 no longer detects tag 20 inproximity, tag station 16 normally causes the message or other contentto disappear or be erased from sign 14. After the message has beendisplayed on sign 14, tag station 16 can initiate transmission of anotification message (e.g., an e-mail) to that effect to the person whosent the message.

Note that, with respect to the accounts that have already been set up,the process returns to step 34, implying that another automobile havinga tag of the present invention (not shown) can pass sign 14 and haveinformation displayed in the same manner as described above with respectto automobile 10. It is also implied that automobile 10 can pass anothersign (not shown) further down the same road or elsewhere and again haveinformation displayed in the manner described above.

Although normally the information is displayed for some predeterminedamount of time, if another driver having a tag of the present invention(not shown) is detected approaching sign 14 before that amount of timehas passed, tag station 16 causes the earlier displayed information tobe erased, retrieves information directed to the other (next) driver,and causes sign 14 to display that retrieved information. More complexalgorithms for determining which of multiple drivers in the vicinity ofsign 14 should have information displayed for them will readily occur topersons skilled in the art to which the invention pertains. For example,if two (or more) drivers approach sign 14 relatively closely to oneanother, the algorithm may involve comparing the priority of theinformation directed to each driver with the priority of the informationdirected to the other drivers. Thus, one driver may receive ahigh-priority urgent or emergency message even though his tag isdetected a second or two after the tag of another driver if the otherdriver's information is of lower priority, such as news or weatherreports. Alternatively or in addition, the algorithm may involvecomparing the speed of two or more vehicles. Speed can be measured inresponse to the time elapsed between detection of the tag by first tagstation 18 and detection of the same tag by second tag station 16. Thus,information directed to a driver whose automobile is traveling fasterthan that of other drivers may be displayed because the faster driverwill have less time to view the information than the slower drivers.Note that the speed measurement itself can be information displayed fora driver.

In some embodiments of the invention, the electronic sign can havemultiple portions so that information directed to multiple drivers canbe displayed simultaneously. For example, one portion of the sign can bedirected to truckers while another is directed to drivers ofautomobiles. The sign can display any suitable number of messagessimultaneously.

Sign 14 can display messages or other information in colors thatcorrespond to their priorities. For example, it can displayhigh-priority information in red, lower-priority in blue, and so forth.Also note that the information can be not only textual in nature butalso graphical, including still images and moving images.

With further regard to step 33, although not indicated in the flowchartof FIG. 3 for purposes of clarity, sign control server 26 can selectinformation and download it into the computer of second tag station 16as often as may be determined by a predetermined algorithm. For example,the algorithm can be that new information directed to the driver ofautomobile 10 is selected and downloaded into tag station 16 only afterold information has been displayed for that driver. Alternatively, thealgorithm can be that information is selected and downloaded atpredetermined time intervals. Many other algorithms are possible, suchas updating information stored in second tag station 16 when theinformation becomes stale, outdated or no longer of use to the driverfor which it is intended. In other words, server 26 can, for example,read a news headline from content server 28 but download it into tagstation 16 only when the headline has changed from a headline previouslydownloaded into tag station 16. Such other algorithms will readily occurto persons skilled in the art to which the invention relates in view ofthe teachings in this patent specification.

In embodiments of the invention in which the user's account prioritizestwo or more information types, at step 33 server 26 selects informationof one type and not the others as the content to be displayed. Server 26can use any suitable prioritization algorithm. For example, if the userselects traffic information and sports as information types and selectsa higher priority for traffic information than sports, server 26 candetermine how long ago it last retrieved traffic information for theuser of the identified account (i.e., the last time automobile 10 passedan electronic sign system of the present invention) and how long ago itlast retrieved sports information for the user of the identifiedaccount. It can then retrieve the traffic information from, for example,content server 28, and compare the retrieved traffic information totraffic information it last retrieved. If the retrieved information isthe same as that which it last retrieved, i.e., the traffic informationhas not changed since the last time, server 26 can retrieve sportsinformation from content server 28 or another such server. If thetraffic information has changed, however, it is displayed instead ofsports information because it has a higher priority than sportsinformation and the driver has presumably not yet seen the new trafficinformation. Alternatively, server 26 can retrieve information of acertain type if information of that type has not been previouslyretrieved for the user of the identified account within a predeterminedamount of time, such as the past two hours. If information of that typehas been retrieved within the past two hours for the identified account,information of a lower-priority type will be retrieved instead.

In typical scenarios, a user may afford personal messages the highestpriority. Indeed, different types of personal messages can be affordeddifferent priorities. For example, personal messages of an “emergencypersonal message” information type can have a higher priority thanpersonal messages of a “personal request message” information type. Inthe illustrated example, the personal message “Jack, please get milk”may be displayed because personal messages have a higher priority thanother information types the user selected, such as weather, sports andfinancial information. The user may have selected these informationtypes in order of decreasing priority: personal messages, weather,sports and financial information. Thus, weather information would beretrieved only if no new personal messages have been entered. Similarly,sports information would be retrieved only if no new personal messagesor weather information is available. Financial information would beretrieved only if no new personal messages, weather information orsports information is available. Also, at any given time, information ofone or more of the selected types may simply be unavailable due, forexample, to a malfunctioning content server or inattention by contentproviders to store such content on their servers. In such cases,information of a type having lower priority than the unavailableinformation would be displayed. Information could also includeadvertising, which could be interspersed with other information ordisplayed whenever no higher priority information is specified.

Tag 20 may be associated with the occupant of automobile 10 or may beassociated with automobile 10 itself. In other words, although theaccount is preferably personalized for the driver or other occupant, itmay be set up in association with the vehicle, e.g., automobile 10, withthe intention that the messages are not directed to a particularindividual but rather to any driver or other occupant of the vehicle.Such embodiments of the invention may be particularly useful for driversof commercial vehicles in which the vehicle may have different driversat different times. Operators of commercial trucking lines may, forexample, wish to provide their drivers with traffic information or roadconditions or send personal messages to them instruction them how toproceed. In a further alternative embodiment, information displayeddynamically may be directed to multiple persons (e.g., in multiplevehicles) by receiving multiple tags from a group of persons or vehiclesand displaying a message appropriate to the group. For example, on abusy freeway, it may be impractical to display messages for eachindividual driver. However, a system as described herein could receivetags from a number of vehicles approaching the electronic sign more orless to concurrently over some time interval, e.g., 60 seconds. Based onthis collection of tags, the system could abstract some characteristicor characteristics of the group of vehicles, and choose an appropriatemessage. Such an embodiment would be useful, e.g., for dynamicallydisplaying advertising targeted to the group. The tag may show apredominance of drivers of a particular age, sex, income, educationallevel, political affiliation, area of interest, or other characteristic,and select an advertisement or other message targetted to the group. Itwill be understood that the message will not necessarily be appropriatefor every driver or vehicle occupant in the group, but that some sort ofaveraging algorithm would be used to identify a characteristic orcharacteristics of a majority or significant number of people in thegroup, and choose a message based on this information (analogous to themanner in which magazine advertisers choose publications in which toplace their ads based on the known demographics of the subscribers).Furthermore, such a method of selecting advertising based on groupdemographics could be used in conjunction with a system ofindividualized messages as described earlier. I.e., individualizedmessages may have a higher priority, but where there is noindividualized message of a high priority to be displayed, the systemmay select an advertising or other general interest message based ongroup characteristics.

In the embodiments described above, information is displayed in responseto a tag from one person or vehicle, or to multiple tags from a group ofpeople or vehicles. However, in a further alternative embodiment, someof the information could be information of general interest which is notselected in response to any tag, while other information is selected inresponse to tags. For example, there may be a certain class of highpriority information, such as an emergency news flash or weather alert,which pre-empts all other information. As an additional example, generalinformation such as advertising which is not selected in response totags could be displayed on a low priority basis, to be interrupted byhigher priority personal messages and other tag-selected informationwhen such higher priority information is available. As a furtherexample, portions of an electronic sign could be devoted to tag-selectedinformation, while other portions are devoted to information of generalinterest, which is not selected in response to tags.

It will be evident that there are numerous embodiments of the presentinvention, which, while not specifically described above, are clearlywithin the scope and spirit of the invention. Consequently, the abovedescription is considered to be exemplary only, and the full scope ofthe invention is to be determined solely by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for providing information to anindividual with whom an electronic tag is associated using an electronicsign, said electronic sign having a dynamic display, comprising thesteps of: establishing an account associated with said tag; receiving aninformation selection from said individual; selecting information inresponse to an identity of said account and said information selection;electronically detecting said tag being brought into proximity with saidelectronic sign; electronically determining an identity of said tagbeing brought into proximity with said electronic sign; retrieving saidinformation selected in response to said identity of said account ifsaid identity of said account matches said identity of said tag; anddisplaying retrieved information on said dynamic display.
 2. A methodfor providing information to an occupant of a road vehicle using anelectronic road sign, said electronic road sign having a dynamicdisplay, comprising the steps of: receiving from the occupant aprioritization of information types, said prioritization rankinginformation types in order of said occupant's preference; electronicallydetecting at least one vehicle approaching said electronic road sign;electronically determining a respective identity of at least oneidentifier associated with said at least one vehicle; selectinginformation in response to said respective identity of at least oneidentifier and said prioritization; and displaying said selectedinformation on said dynamic display.
 3. The method claimed in claim 2,wherein: said step of electronically detecting at least one vehicleapproaching said electronic road sign comprises communicating a radiofrequency signal between a respective device in said at least onevehicle and a device associated with said road sign; and said step ofelectronically determining a respective identity of at least oneidentifier associated with said vehicle comprises communicating a radiofrequency signal between a respective device in said at least onevehicle and a device associated with said road sign.
 4. The methodclaimed in claim 3, further comprising the steps of: prior to said stepsof electronically detecting at least one vehicle and electronicallydetermining said identity of at least one identifier, said occupantproviding a base station computer located remotely from said road signwith said prioritization of information; and communicating informationfrom said base station computer to said road sign; wherein said step ofselecting information comprises selecting information of one of saidinformation types.
 5. The method claimed in claim 4, wherein said stepof selecting information of one of said information types comprises thesteps of: determining an amount of time elapsed since previouslyselecting information of one of said information types; and selectinginformation of a type not previously selected within a predeterminedamount of time.
 6. The method claimed in claim 4, wherein said step ofselecting information of one of said information types comprises thesteps of: determining whether information of one of said informationtypes is not available; and selecting information of a type that isavailable but of lower priority than information of a type that is notavailable.
 7. The method claimed in claim 3, wherein: said step ofselecting information in response to said identity comprises selectingsaid information at a base station computer located remotely from saidroad sign; and said step of displaying information on said dynamicdisplay comprises communicating selected information from said basestation computer to said road sign.
 8. The method claimed in claim 7,further comprising the step of, prior to said steps of electronicallydetecting at least one vehicle and electronically determining anidentity of at least one identifier, providing said base stationcomputer with a textual message, wherein said information selected inresponse to said identity includes said message and said informationdisplayed on said dynamic display includes said message.
 9. The methodclaimed in claim 8, wherein said step of providing said base stationcomputer with a textual message comprises the step of entering saidtextual message into a computer in communication with said base stationcomputer via a wide-area computer network and located remotely from saidbase station computer.
 10. The method claimed in claim 7, furthercomprising the step of, prior to said steps of electronically detectinga vehicle and electronically determining an identity of an identifier,establishing an account associated with said vehicle on said basestation computer in exchange for a predetermined payment.
 11. The methodclaimed in claim 2, wherein said step of selecting information inresponse to the respective identity of at least one identifier comprisesselecting information in response to at least one characteristicassociated with a plurality of said identifiers.
 12. A system forproviding information to an occupant of a road vehicle, comprising: anelectronic road sign having a dynamic display; a receiver apparatus forreceiving electronically detectable tags, each tag being borne by arespective vehicle approaching said electronic road sign; and aprogrammable processor coupled to said receiver apparatus and to saidelectronic road sign, said processor being programmed to receive aprioritization of information types from said occupant, to selectinformation in response to at least one said electronically detectabletags and said prioritization, and to cause said information to bedisplayed on said dynamic display when the at least one vehicle bearingthe at least one said electronically detectable tags approaches saidroad sign.
 13. The system claimed in claim 11, wherein a radio frequencysignal is communicated between said receiver apparatus and said tag toelectronically detect said tag.
 14. The system claimed in claim 12,further comprising a base station computer located remotely from saidroad sign, wherein said occupant provides said base station computerwith the prioritization of information types in order of said occupant'spreference, and wherein said information is selected from one of saidinformation types and communicated from said base station computer tosaid road sign.
 15. The system claimed in claim 13 wherein said basestation computer determines an amount of time elapsed since previouslyselecting information of one of said information types and selectsinformation of a type not previously selected within a predeterminedamount of time.
 16. The system claimed in claim 13, wherein said basestation computer determines whether information of one of saidinformation types is not available and selects information of a typethat is available but of lower priority than information of a type thatis not available.
 17. The system claimed in claim 12, further comprisinga base station computer located remotely from said road sign, whereinselected information is communicated from said base station computer tosaid road sign.
 18. The system claimed in claim 16, wherein said basestation computer is part of a computer system having an input device forreceiving a textual message, wherein said information selected inresponse to said identity includes said message and said informationdisplayed on said electronic road sign includes said message.
 19. Thesystem claimed in claim 17, wherein said computer system includes awide-area network, and said textual message is entered into a computerin communication with said base station computer via said wide-areacomputer network and located remotely from said base station computer.20. The system claimed in claim 12, wherein said programmable processoris programmed to select information in response to at least onecharacteristic associated with a plurality of said tag.
 21. The methodof claim 1, wherein the information comprises travel information. 22.The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises roadconditions.
 23. The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprisesadvertisements.
 24. The method of claim 23, further comprising selectingthe advertisements to be displayed based on the individual in closeproximity to the electronic sign.
 25. The method of claim 1, wherein thetag comprises a personal digital assistant having an identifierassociated therewith.
 26. The method of claim 1, wherein the tagcomprises a cellular telephone having an identifier associatedtherewith.
 27. The method of claim 1, wherein the tag comprises a pagerhaving an identifier associated therewith.
 28. A method for providingdynamic information, comprising: associating a tag with an individual;receiving a desired information selection from the individual; detectingthe tag as being in close proximity to an electronic sign, theelectronic sign having a dynamic display; and in response to detectingthe tag: determining the identity of the tag; receiving the desiredinformation associated with the identified tag; and displaying theinformation on the dynamic display.